How to Create Lecture Tutorials

In addition to the example Lecture Tutorials, you can also write them yourself. The following steps describe one basic approach to take:

  1. Become familiar with published Lecture Tutorials to expose yourself to their approach and style.
  2. Identify a misconception or difficult topic you would like to address.
  3. Write a summative question that you would like students to be able to answer at the end of the Lecture Tutorial. Put this question as the last question.
  4. Determine what "baby steps" the students need to make in order to answer the final question, and write questions with these steps in mind.
  5. Include misconceptions and students' prior knowledge when writing the questions.
  6. Write a Student 1 vs. Student 2 debate question for the Lecture Tutorial based on known misconceptions. Be sure to use a student voice when writing these questions.
  7. Add questions that are self-checks for students, so they can make sure they are on the right track.
  8. Review the Lecture Tutorial and remove any terminology that is not absolutely essential.
  9. Ask a colleague or a student to review the Lecture Tutorial to make sure it is clearly written and there is enough information to answer the questions.
  10. (optional) Create multiple choice questions that test whether students understand the main points of the Lecture Tutorial. Address only one concept per question, and use known misconceptions as the distractor (incorrect) answers.
  11. Test the Lecture Tutorial in your classroom and gather feedback from the students (through listening in on their discussions, reviewing their answers on the Lecture Tutorial if possible, asking them to fill out a short form describing what questions helped them and what didn't help them, assessing their answers to the multiple-choice questions)
  12. Revise the Lecture Tutorial based on the feedback.
  13. Repeat steps 11 and 12 several times until you have something that you (and your students) are happy with.